Broke: A Clone Wars Tale - Volume 1 Chapter 290 Outside Interference
In the moon of Alave, not too far away from Orto Plutonia and Pantora, there was a Republic outpost, responsible for overlooking the entire system. Usually, the base had two dozen clones, but at the moment, they were all dead, killed by a group of commando droids.
As such, no one was warned when a single Separatist frigate appeared out of hyperspace, heading for Orto Plutonia. Two C-9979 Landing Crafts left the ship, and landed on the planet, while the frigate jumped to lightspeed once again, disappearing.
————————–
For the next week, Hell Squad and Senator Amidala kept going to the plateau, to continue the negotiations. Over the course of there days, the Talz and Pantorans had several fights, but with Hell Squad’s intervention, none resulted in death. Curiously enough, though, those fights brought the two species closer together, and, by the end of the week, a peace treaty was almost done.
Now, Hell Squad and the senator were making their way back to their ship. Contrarily to most other times, Senator Amidala had a happy smile on her face.
“Tomorrow, they will sign the treaty. After that, we can return to Coruscant, and your squad will have completed your mission, commander.”
Dageer nodded, and was about to answer when he looked over the horizon, and a bad feeling hit him. He immediately slowed down, and Brain did the same.
“You felt it too, commander?”
“Yeah. Stop!”
The clones stopped their speeders immediately, sending snow flying in the air. Senator Amidala almost crashed into Cell’s BARC Speeder.
“Wh-What?! What is happening, Commander Dageer? Felt what?”
Hell Squad took position, their weapons ready to fire at any threat, but they didn’t know what it was, nor could they see anything. However, they trusted Dageer. His instincts had saved them multiple times.
“What is wrong?”
“I don’t know. Just a feeling. Three-four, Tech, take the senator back to the plateau. The Talz and the Pantorans should still be there. The others, assume defensive positions. Nothing gets past us, understood?”
“Roger that.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Got it. Come on, ma’am.”
The clones immediately moved after receiving their orders, and Tech dragged Senator Amidala to her speeder. She had a shocked expression on her face, but she was clear that Hell Squad had orders to protect her, even if that meant going against her will. Also, she was a smart person, with powerful friends. Hell Squad wouldn’t be sent to escort her if they weren’t good, so she decided to trust Dageer’s instincts.
The commander looked at the snow around them with watchful eyes. There were rock walls, and piles of snow everywhere, enough to hide a small army. Maybe that was what triggered his instincts. But they had done the same path for the past week, and at no time, had he felt anything. No… Something was very, very wrong. He only had to find out what.
It didn’t take long. As soon as the three speeders carrying Tech, Three-four, and Senator Amidala started to move, a laser left the snow about three hundred meters to their left, hitting the medic’s speeder, and sending Three-four flying. Luckily, the snow softened his fall.
Immediately, Dageer turned to where the red laser came from, and lowered his macrobinoculars. The figure of a commando droid, wielding a sniper blaster rifle, became clear.
“Dab! Aim low!”
“Got it!”
Using his own speeder to keep his DC-15x steady, Dab looked at the clancker through his scope, and fired.
“Good hit!”
The clones kept looking for new threats, but, for a moment, not one appeared. Instead of appeasing Dageer, that only made him more worried. A single commando droid made no sense.
“What are the seppies doing here?!”
“How would I know? Commander, what do we do about Senator Amidala?”
To her credit, the politician was behaving remarkably well, a blaster pistol in her hand. She and Tech were still on their speeders, waiting for Dageer’s next commands.
“Nothing. They surrounded us.”
Hundreds of B1 units appeared from all directions, coming out from behind the rocks, or from under the snow. Leading the small army were a dozen commando clanckers. For a moment, Dageer wondered how they hadn’t seen them before, and then he realized that even now, it was difficult to distinguish them from the background.
“They were camouflaged… This… This was a well-planned ambush. Who…?”
“The tin cans are getting smarter, senator. Crouch behind the speeders, and let us deal with them.”
The droids were painted with a dirty white color, not only the commandos, but even the standard B1 units. They had laid down on the snow, and kept out of sigh. It was more than clear that they were there for Hell Squad and Senator Amidala, and them only. This wasn’t an invasion or anything of the like. It was a trap.
“I won’t hide while you fight for me, commander. Besides, it isn’t as if you can save me.”
As she said that, Senator Amidala got up, blaster in hand. Dageer looked at the determined expression on her face, and shrugged. She was right. Surrounded by hundreds of seppies, in a planet where Republic presence was nonexistent, their chances of surviving were null.
“I am sorry, ma’am, but Hell Squad will be unable to complete our mission to protect you.”
“That’s all right, Commander Dageer. But, if we are going to die, let’s take some of them with us.”
When they heard that, Hell Squad was stunned for a moment, before Metal broke the silence by laughing.
“Haha! The senator is right, commander. It isn’t like we are afraid to die or anything like that.”
Dageer smiled under his helmet. No clone was afraid to die. To fall in battle, having taken down some enemies, was their purpose, and their pride.
“We should have died a long time ago, back in Ryloth, with Commander Keeli and the others. To survive up till now… We have already avenged them.”
Having said that, Dageer put a mad grin on his face, and lifted his blaster. Eight people against hundreds of droids, and yet, it were the clones who made the first move.
Instantly, the once quiet land, covered in snow, burst into action, as blue and red lasers flew. War arrived in Orto Plutonia.
